Students’ Perspectives of Competency-based Medical Education in Undergraduate Psychiatry Clinical Training: A Qualitative Evaluation

Abstract

Background: Undergraduate (UG) medical students are one of the stakeholders and ultimate beneficiaries of the competency-based medical education (CBME) curriculum introduced in 2019 by the National Medical Commission (NMC). There is a dearth of literature on student perspectives on CBME Psychiatry clinical posting in India. Methods: Second professional students who attended the psychiatry clinical posting were invited to participate in the qualitative study. They were asked to give perspectives about the training during clinical posting based on a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Written feedback forms were obtained from 44 students. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results showed the perceived impact of posting (change in knowledge, skills, and attitude), barriers to learning (student factors, patient factors, interaction factors, structural factors), and feedback on training during clinical posting (structural factors, practice over theory). Conclusion: UG students perceived improvement in their knowledge, attitude, and clinical skills during their posting in Psychiatry. They reported several barriers to learning at variouslevels. Their feedback to improve the posting focused on demonstrating skills using patients rather than theory classes.